"There is a place for private hire taxis in Gloucester, but they must be pre-booked and cannot be flagged down," he said.

"The danger is you may not be insured if you accept a fare. As taxi drivers, we all want to be highlighting safety moving forward.

"People must plan ahead and book a taxi home.

"The last thing I want to do is hear on a Monday morning that someone I have dropped off in the city at night has not got home safely.

"There are too many people walking home at night alone.

"The incident on Saturday night is a worry.

"Taxi drivers will always make sure women on their own will get home safely and to their door." There is a problem with private hire taxis stopping off in Eastgate Street to collect fares, the panel heard.

The panel hopes relocating taxi ranks from outside Liquid nightclub and the bus station to the front of GL1 leisure centre will help diffuse issues. The move could also speed up plans to fully pedestrianise Eastgate Street at night.

Aspire Leisure manages GL1 but its chief executive Steve Elway has concerns over any possible move.

"We would have reservations over a taxi rank outside GL1, mainly because of the glass frontage and the potential for vandalism," he said.

"We are happy to work with the Nightsafe partners for the benefit of the city to come up with an alternative.

Comments

Douglasknows--obviously you don't know, no such thing as private taxi
bdbear--the use of top-lights for private hire vehicles has been stopped to help avoid confusion with the general public. Now there is a simple rule "if it has not got a roof light it is not a taxi" so do not get in it unless you have pre-ordered one.

It woulld help as well if all taxis carried signs on the roof of the vehicle as the hackney cabs do , yellow for private hire like there plate that way you can easly see what type of taxi it is the new plates are so small you can hardly see them .

"Taxi safety campaign" should also apply to the condition of the vehicle and it's driver. Plus the driving history / style of the driver. And not just in Gloucester.
I've seen plenty of examples of taxis on the roads seemingly thinking they have to roads to themselves, with the Highway Code not applying.